a day of mourning protest in tunisia thousands gathered for the funeral of a slain opposition leader amid fears of more violence against the backdrop of a general strike that's paralyzed the country. as in the bombers nominee to head the cia faces catcalls from drug testers seemingly gets an easy ride from lawmakers over his controversial targeted assassinations program. budget bickering round two and rifts between main rivals france and the u.k. even wider what's seen as a snub by the french president. news

and much more you are watching our team. now we start with tunisia where thousands have gathered for the funeral of a secular opposition leader whose assassination has led to chaos in the streets and the crisis in parliament cities nationwide are braced for fresh anti-government protests with two previous days of unrest resulting in fierce clashes between demonstrators and police well adding to the turmoil the country has been paralyzed by general strike. following developments in tunisia. as you can see many people have gathered here today for the funeral sofa chokri belaid one of the most prominent opposition leaders who was killed on wednesday and seen standing situation here on the ground remains very tense and very valid tile and that is definitely strengthening that relative stability that we've seen here although in two thousand and eleven revolution free speech a lot of people here it's quite a small square but it's packed with people with flags and all of them actually

chanting from time to time and to government slogans many people we have been able to speak to here and come here they say that the leader of a not a party. mr going to shit is personally responsible for this murder well these are very strong accusations actually but we've been hearing that from too many people that we see here today and if you've seen here in the last two days in the country actually it's a deja vu it's a mirror situation with what we've seen here that would be so here two years ago in the last two days following the assassination of took a villa there have been many protests not only in the capital tunis but throughout the country and there have been many flashes between police and opposition forces and we've heard that at least one police officer was killed but definitely there happy much more injured people this is a very bad situation here in the country but fear is

a growing that it may turn even more violent and it will go even further if there is no solution immediate solution to this is why people are saying that they're preparing for the worst. well local journalist have area bennett ghazi who's been following developments in tunis since the protests broke out on wednesday says nothing is likely to quell the demonstrators anger accept a new government. the slogans you can hear right now i down with this is that we we can and not anyone. my god and my. minister of interior to resign. i am mainly asking for the government to go away i'm trying minister. were you government. has been a good initiative but it was used by leader and.

it's not. well it is maria for national whose account of events we had there you is also posting the latest updates on her twitter feed all the developments some pictures are to be had for national underscore r.t. . well president obama's choice to head the cia has faced a tough confirmation hearing at the u.s. senate but it wasn't the lawmakers who put john brennan under the spotlight for his

controversial role in the u.s. drone program the session was actually interrupted several times by protesters holding up banners like stop cia murder. the use of drones by america for targeted strikes against suspected terrorists where human rights groups claim the program that was created by britain has led to a wide number of civilian deaths and one point to hearing chairman over the room cleared out what happened afterwards was often the expected grilling is going to chicken out explains. what most people expected to hear was how does the u.s. government make decisions as to who should be on their kill list and mr brennan would certainly be the most appropriate person to ask because he is known to have been in charge of the kill list and he's known as the architect of the administration's targeted assassinations program so the question of who the drones are targeting was critical and one of the senators asked john brennan whether there should be at least some judicial oversight over those executions by drones and

here's what he said none of those actions or to determine past guilt for those actions that he took the decisions that are made or to take action so that we prevent future action to protect american lives so the rationale that john brennan gave for not going to court is that the administration is not in the business of punishing individuals but it's in the business of preventing attacks he basically says the u.s. government could execute people who are what they haven't done yet you would expect a follow up questions from lawmakers as to how the administration determines the level of threat as these people constitute let's imagine an angry yemeni man who writes in his blog dad he hates america as you can see is wife died in a drone strike and he wants to take revenge is that enough to justify him being killed by a drone there are so many questions about how the administration decides to put someone on their kill list and yet there was not sneer another grilling on the part

of the senators to get specific answers prior to the hearing a memo was released which the justice department handed over to congress and according to the memo the government can kill people overseas even without evidence that they are actively plotting against the u.s. the paper states that the u.s. would be able to kill a u.s. citizen or non-citizen overseas went down quote an informed high level official of the u.s. government determines that target is an imminent threat to them here for also suggest that such decisions would not be subject to judicial review and outlines a broad definition of what constitutes imminent threat. everybody expected tough questions on drones but that did not happen john brennan got away with very broad answers like the program if saving lives and that you should take the administration's word for it the drone warfare its consequences and the morality of it all were up for debate in crosstalk and we are today we hear how drone strikes

may be breeding the very terror authorities are seeking to eliminate. is quite enough but it's getting worse i mean there's a new new drawn be a snow in nigeria close to mali so that you've got the west of african eye as well and so it's trucking up so that we're going to have drawn be a says all over africa i'm not sure what to suppose really why are we doing this well isn't it. the most effective recruitment tool for insurgents in the world david what do you think about that drones are an improvement on torture drones or an appointment of a ground war these are the arguments were being given and yet we didn't have a ground war in yemen we might need one eventually after the damage the drone strikes are doing but this is we're being told that this type of murder is better then all of their human rights abuses. or the battle of the budget continues in brussels where even leaders are having

a second go at hammering out a deal the main face off between the u.k. and france which is leading rival camps those supporting and the posing cuts to e.u. spending divisions intensified after what's been seen as a snub by france one lone who didn't turn up in the tin with david cameron auntie's to a city reports from brussels. well the bickering certainly continues between the u.k.'s prime minister david cameron and the french president francois lawn this has been going on even before the summit started the latest drama between the two fronts vologda has been said to have snub the british for not attending a meeting that involved david cameron as well as angle of merkel the french president said that he did not get an invitation but it was said that he has been called repeatedly and simply did not answer his phone call this is just part of the drama unfolding on the sidelines david cameron being the loudest voice on the count calling for more belt tightening he wants more budget cuts to the e.u. this seven year plan whereas francois long does demanding that spending continues

and the excessive costs not be placed in terms of where the budget stands they don't have a draft proposal in terms of the a bond that they have to negotiate but having a general about is just the first step they have to figure out how to divide this amount to end and that is also a point of contention with different countries trying to protect different industries supports in their own national interests and again if they even come up with a deal today there's another step for european parliament to they have to sign off of this if the president of the parliament market it's not very happy if you see excessive that he said he might not put a signature on it in the end even if they do come up with a deal here at the summit. and well e.u. leaders are thought to have a will to cut this one right and that's apparently immune from any austerity measures the e.u. is reportedly planning to spend more than three million dollars to wage a propaganda blitz on its critics in the social media euro skeptic from the u.k. independence party says approach it would violate one of the main principles of the

european parliament. they decided that they got to train in how staff in the run up to the european elections of twenty fourteen train those people to go online to look at facebook twitter and other social media sites and to correct that's their word not mine to correct any misstep or engines that may exist about the european union and i have to say the fact that it's a parliament that is doing this that is using taxpayers' money to do this says a lot about the institutions that all what about parliaments is the person is it's him a chair of parliament he's the speaker in westminster he's the chairman of the parliaments around the world but he has all the rest of the staff are supposed to be neutral they're not supposed to take any political position at all and the fact that the parliament has decided it's going to spend money time and resources doing this shows you that frankly they're no better than

a banana republic and this is all the mcgarvie would do or someone like that and i think many people outside would be shocked by it having worked there myself for thirteen years i'm not surprised at all they are really really scared they're scared that from north to south to east to west all over the european union citizens are saying we've never voted for this thing to become the united states of europe we've never asked to have the majority of our laws made somewhere else and we want to do something about it so they're scared and they're fighting back. well critics say brussels costly worries about many across the continent speechless the frustration. that seems to test it against government cuts across this plane. from coverage of that coming. also on line a key document in russia's recent history disappeared. unions break up.

walking theories that the thief may stand to make a fortune. if the bill in the u.k. aims to clear the way for private online messages to be monitored by the government concerns that the those measures are taking national security a step too far. plus follow what. the most expensive.

technology innovation all these developments from russia. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew. welcome to the big picture. he. believes.

in the u.k. a document described by some as a nucleus charter will be given another push by the government of intelligence and security committee said the proposal that veto the bill is designed to help authorities track online activity of citizens and achieve personal web data welty sarah first looks at how such measures could power up national security. the main area of concern surrounds this the draft communications data bill and proposals in it that critics say could see the public left wide open to having their facebook accounts or twitter e-mails read anything that they visit online the websites that they gayety logs by the government now understandably those plans have proven

hugely controversial with critics labeling it the snoop is charter now perhaps more concerning is the latest report by the intelligence and security committee and they'd like to see a nationwide surveillance regime implemented now the government say that they need to do this to catch criminals and stop terrorism but there's lots of the members of the public saying where are safeguards when it comes to what we do online will seek more about this i'm now joined by professor and sneakily to the director studies security and intelligence studies at the university of akron thank you very much for joining us you are in support of the draft communications data verbal i heard you describe yourself at a recent talk stunk at the picnic if these keys and these proposals are so unpopular why are the government pushing them through all the time when government is pushing them through because the government realizes that they're needed some thirty million people use the internet to communicate with each other each day in

the united kingdom people in this country fully accept that for more than a hundred years. their telephone conversations are likely to be mine if they're seen as a national security risk if there is a suspicion that a particular person is engaged in serious organized crime sex trafficking or terrorism the government can then institute a probe as a member of the public who thought oh my e-mails for well if you don't want your e-mails. your not being gauged any kind of illegal activity your emails won't be pro if you want if you want complete driver's seat don't write any letters to your friends don't speak to them on the telephone and don't send them photographs of yourself in jockeying looking very much for joining us to fester and see if the house that is the solution maybe is the time for

a big log of things hey someone is actually watching. london. even if they are you can join the online discussion about the u.k.'s controversial communications bill on our web site head to r.t. dot com to cast your vote what you think the surveillance of people's web activities will lead to well let's see how your opinions stacked up today so far you could have a look at our chart here yet thirty nine percent the majority of you well most of you there really think they're scrambling crippin will become an ordinary thing almost a third of believe people will reject the practice and fight for their rights of twenty eight percent and nineteen percent of you so far today i think it will result in people leaving social networks and a small portion if you were i think nothing's going to change at all keep your votes coming in.

the georgian parliament has refused to provide the platform for an even listen to president saakashvili is a new address a new sign of his waning power he chose another place for the speech but in the angry crowd is now preventing him from entering the building hailed in the west as an exemplary democratic rule so really lost the popular support and his party was defeated in a parliamentary election all this a result of his crackdown on the opposition and the claims of human rights abuses what is the next year shuster reports. georgia has performed miracles we moved from being a failed state will be one of the top business destinations in the world while it would be high to give up a comic freedom according to the world bank i'll be number one fighter with corruption worldwide and many think people started to believe in this vicious people started to believe the mockers it was because saakashvili is georgia a really a beacon of democracy and freedom not from viewpoint when he's universities rectory

refused to build a prayer room he helped organize a ten thousand strong peaceful student rally but it ended with his arrest and sentence of four and a half yes behind bars guards could just walk into our cell and start beating us for no reason the even put twenty year old students in wheelchairs and prison one of the inmates went insane because they showed him footage of how his wife was being raped your he thought he was spending his time with murder isn't drug barons instead he found himself among academics architects and right all jailed for having a different opinion to the country's leadership. works as an advisor to the minister of the penitentiary system and used to be classmates with saakashvili she believes the astonishing number of prisoners in georgia during his reign was to a large extent personally driven. he had often been joked out in

school he directed his revenge against his former classmates when he became president most of them were either stripped of their businesses or put to prison in his presidency we've had twenty five thousand people in jail. shocking video of prisoner abuse in georgia jails went viral and effectively diminished the president's party support by more than a half inch last fall the election and control of the country is not yet known where the second shooting will place bush we should push elocution for two hundred political prisoners the change of power man for the job to deal with because saakashvili will formally remain as georgia's president until october but he's already been transferred to the prime minister if he wanted to be has already declared a national wide amnesty of political prisoners but experts say there is socialization may take several more years. r.t. reporting from police in georgia. and now to some other international news in brief for you this hour a suicide bomber has learned himself to be checkpoint in

a city in northern mali no casualties have been reported except for the bomber himself is the first case of such a suicide attacks and french troops into the country north of which was this is the most extremist france and now wants u.n. peacekeepers to take over security there as appears to end its mission. or car bombs in iraq have reportedly claimed at least thirty one lives as local markets were attacked in the capital and in the nearby city of hillah. it's a baghdad marketplace sixteen people died after exploded in a later targeting busy city areas on fridays has become a widespread terror tactic with insurgents. a ferry carrying around one hundred passengers has sunk in a river in central bank reports suggest that more than thirty people have been rescued all managed to swim ashore the sky. remain missing very accidents are

common in bangladesh team to poorly maintained lessons and next week you mention. well not at the clock counting down one year to the sochi winter olympics started taking work at the russian resort city is stepping up the pace organizers say final touches are being made to prepare the city for one of the world's biggest and most prestigious sporting events parties and to farmers in sochi discover what guests are lucky to find that as well as how the area marked the start of the countdown. after six years of relentless construction i think she's entering the final home straight in terms of getting prepared for these games last night to mark the one year to go there was a lavish ceremony here at the olympic park there were fireworks there's also a spectacular skating show that took place in the bolshoi that was all very impressive. switched on across russia if you are a fan tickets have gone on sale now the cheapest one you can pick up is something like fifteen dollars and if you're rich or you fancy scratching

a bit of cash you can pick up a ticket to watch the opening ceremony for something like fifteen hundred dollars i have been here for the last few days and have been very impressed with what i've seen most of the sporting venues are now up and running and that is staggering considering most of them had to be built from scratch there was one area of concern and that was the ski jumping up in the mountains they are slightly behind and also over budget and that still present. a senior member of the russian olympic committee yesterday but overall the message is very positive this is in the daily setting i mean i'm just made from the black sea here people swimming in there just minutes ago i was fifteen degrees these will be the first olympics that will be held in the subtropical climate and if you're coming here to watch in sport i think you will thoroughly enjoy simply because it's so easy to get around the olympic park is extremely compact which means you can walk around all the venues there within about twenty minutes which feasibly means you could watch something not the ice hockey the killing and all the skating events and then if you want to see on

the second day you could get on a train and within thirty minutes you'd be up in the mountains to watch the alpine events. coming up after a short break martin meets experts not to take a critical look. you defense appropriations that you want to go to. saudi arabia has ordered its retailers to construct one point six meter tall

barriers in the middle of their stores a rather unusual demand is that something related to everyone's favorite buzzword terrorism no it is to keep male and female coworkers separate saudi arabia is pretty infamous in the west for its laws regarding the sexes and their segregation activists always want to go to other countries to convince them to adopt western attitudes that deep down in their hearts they secretly want but often they miss things like the fact that it was saudi women who ask for the segregation feeling uncomfortable while buying products from men according to a.f.p. you know some people in countries like saudi arabia or north korea might actually like living a radically different lifestyle and even if they don't like living that way well it is their job to fix it not by some sort of western intervention when i want to live in either of those countries not really do i want to live in a country with the saudi arabian concept of gender not really a part of having freedom of choice means being able to choose things that i may think are backwards or illogical you know let them have the walls in the stores if

they want western civilization you know if it's truly the end all of human evolution then they'll take those walls down eventually on their own but that's just my opinion. if you live on one hundred thirty three months for food. you know how. many i mean. i know i'm sitting in the same city really messed up. in your very soul especially because fuses that have. the worst cure for the missing flight out soup of a. radio guy and for most of a minestrone clik.